# Teignmouth Lifeboat Station

Teignmouth Lifeboat Station is the base for Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) search and rescue operations at Teignmouth, Devon in England. The first lifeboat was stationed in the town in 1851 but the station was closed from 1940 until 1990. Since 2006 it has operated an Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat (ILB).

## History

The Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society sent a lifeboat to Teignmouth in 1851. It was kept near the Custom House in an earlier boathouse on the beach. In 1854 the Benevolent Society transferred its lifeboats to the RNLI. A new boathouse was provided on The Den with the doors facing the harbour and the River Teign.
On 10 October 1907 the lifeboat Alfred Staniforth was launched to aid the schooner Tehwija which had run aground near the mouth of the river with eight crewmen on board. It took the lifeboat crew two attempts to row out over the bar at the mouth of the river into the heavy seas. The ship's crew were pulled off but within fifteen minutes the storm had completely wrecked the grounded ship. W.J. Burden, the Honorary Secretary of the lifeboat station, had gone out in the lifeboat to steer it while Coxswain George Rice and the bowman added extra power to the oars. Burden and Rice were both awarded RNLI Silver Medals for their work that day.
The RNLI started to deploy motor lifeboats after World War I which allowed stations to cover larger areas. Brixham Lifeboat Station received theirs in 1922 and Exmouth in 1933 but the 'pulling and sailing' boat at Teignmouth was retained until 6 November 1940. The Henry Finlay (ON 618) was then left in the boathouse on standby through World War II but the station was closed permanently in July 1945.
On 3 November 1990 the RNLI reopened Teignmouth as an inshore lifeboat station. The old boathouse had been used as a café for a few years but was available for conversion back into a boathouse, which was completed in 1991.

## Description

The boathouse is a single storey masonry building. The slate roof overhangs both sides by a considerable extent and is supported on upright posts. When it was refurbished for its 1991 reopening, a fund-raising gift shop was installed under the eastern overhang.
Large doors open onto the road. When the lifeboat is to be launched, a small County tractor (RNLI No. TA21; registration WCL 764X) pushes it on its 'bedstead' carriage down the road opposite to a slipway on the harbour.

## Area of operation

The Atlantic 85 can go out in Force 6/7 winds (Force 5/6 at night) and can operate at up to 35 knots (65 km/h) for 2½ hours. Adjacent lifeboats – both ILBs and larger all-weather lifeboats – are stationed at Exmouth to the east, and Torbay to the west.

## Teignmouth lifeboats
### Pulling and sailing lifeboats

| At Teignmouth | ON | Name | Built | Class | Comments |
| 1851–1863 | — | Teignmouth | 1851 | Beeching | 28 feet (8.5 m) self-righting boat designed by James Beeching for the SFMRBS. |
| 1863–1864 | — | China | 1863 | Peake | 33 feet (10 m) experimental iron self-righter. |
| 1864–1887 | — | China | 1864 | Peake | 32 feet (9.8 m) boat. Renamed Arnold in 1880. |
| 1887–1896 | 42 | The Arnold | 1887 | Self-righter | 34 feet (10 m) boat. |
| 1896–1930 | 363 | Alfred Staniforth | 1894 | Self-righter | 34 feet (10 m) boat. |
| 1931–1940 | 618 | Henry Finlay | 1911 | Self-righter | 35 feet (11 m) boat, first stationed at Machrihanish. Sold in 1945 and now believed to be in California. |

### Inshore lifeboats

| At Teignmouth | Op. No. | Name | Model | Comments |
| 1990 | B-538 | Lord Brotherton | Atlantic 21 | First stationed at Staithes and Runswick in 1978. At Teignmouth for just two weeks in November 1990. |
| 1990–1991 | B-533 | — | Atlantic 21 | First stationed at Littlestone-on-Sea in 1976. |
| 1991–2006 | B-588 | Frank and Dorothy | Atlantic 21 | |
| 2006–2024 | B-809 | The Two Annes | Atlantic 85 | |
| 2013– | A-67 | Malcolm Hawkesford I | Arancia | |
| 2024– | B-947 | Claude and Kath | Atlantic 85 | |

## Station awards

The following are awards made at Teignmouth
* RNLI Silver Medal
       John B Bulkeley, Coxswain - 1864
       William Stuggins, Second Coxswain - 1870
       Mr William Burden, Honorary Secretary - 1907
       George Rice, Coxswain - 1907
* A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution
       Daniel McCarthy (age 17) - 1997
       Luke McCarthy (age 19) - 1997
       Humphrey Vince - 2008
       Charlie Woolnough - 2008
       Nicola White - 2008
       Adam Truhol - 2008
       William Burton - 2010
       Richard Boss - 2010
       Kevin Clifton - 2010
       Dave Matthews - 2010